Dedicated to teach about Jesus Christ through Naturism (Nudism) and helping us to understand who and what we are IN Christ as humanity!
This group is not ashamed of the Image and Likeness of God.
Related Sites: http://bacn.bravesites.com http://christiannc.com

Friday, May 1, 2015

I was thinking about some comments I heard and read over the years about new people going into naturism, specifically at home. Which, by the way, is the best place to start.

Some are asking that someone be nude with them. I'm not sure if its a sexual request or just someone to "hold their hand" during the process of starting out or simply believing that being nude is a social activity that requires two or more people to be together to make it work.

I usually respond with that latter part about it being an activity like a game or work project that requires two or more people.

Here is how I see it for myself:

First question should be asked, "Are you comfortable in your own skin?" That is a comment which is often applied to people who are comfortable about themselves, honest, not worrying about what others think of them, how they dress, where they go, what they do or what they say; however, most of the time this person is not even a nudist or even want to be a nudist. But this concept of being comfortable in your own skin is a great place to start.

I overheard a lady telling another that she found out that "according to a certain style magazine, today's color is blue", meaning that her style of dress and how she appears in public was determined by a magazine that told her what style to wear this year or season or month, and even down to the day, what colors to wear. She is definitely not comfortable in her own skin. She has to depend on what others think, what a style magazine has to say, even though that can be different from one magazine to another, from city to city or state to state. But to her, it is important that she stays up to date with her styles even if it means going shopping every other day for the latest. In the mean time, everyone around her didn't care one whit what she wore that day or what color she was using. She told this to another lady who apparently had the same issue. Birds of a feather flock together, or read the same magazines.

So I hear some who asks questions like "What do you do when you are naked?" "Do I need anyone to be naked with me?" "Can someone come over so we can be naked together?"
These questions are not from someone who can just get up in the morning and be themselves as they always are at home, only without clothing. I do not find cleaning house any easier nude than clothed, (not that I find cleaning the house easy to begin with), but I am much more comfortable nude than clothed at home. Clothing in my home feels like cardboard on me; hot, soggy cardboard. Like something clammy clinging on to me. I am not comfortable in clothing at home, but I somehow deal with it and ignore it when in public. I am so used to be nude at home that I hardly notice it. I am very comfortable in my skin at home. And I am also comfortable being nude in public if given a right chance and social acceptance.

I do try to be socially concerned about my dress in that if I must wear clothing, at least be in somewhat style and care about how I look. My clothes are clean, pressed, and acceptable by general middle-class public standards. It does not have to be this years style (and certainly not that magazines idea of style). Though I am not middle class, I still try to appear in a way that makes it easier to navigate in this society. I am comfortable with that and I am comfortable in my own skin.

Do you have to "do" something when you are nude? Sleep comes to mind. Or cleaning house, or vegging in front of a TV or computer or reading a book or baking a cake.

What does it matter what you do? It's all the same to me. Do or do not. Just be comfortable enough in your own skin that it doesn't matter who is with you or what you are doing.

If my family wants to be dressed while at home, that is their problem. As long as I am free to be nude if I want to be. I do not need them to be nude for my sake. If you have to make something out of it and justify being nude, then you are not comfortable in your own skin enough to just be who and what you are, even if you are clothed.

Personally, I think this is how God wants us to be: Comfortable in our own skin. We need to stop trying to impress the world by living in fear; Constantly looking over our shoulder (shirt or shirtless). We try to do things as if we are living someone else's life when in actuality, we belong God. Sure, in a way, we belong to one another and we are our "brothers keeper". We don't want to live a life of offending others, however, we will offend others and sometimes there is nothing we can do about it simply because some are just easily offended about everything (Social media is loaded with offended people). All we can do is just get on with our lives. God wants us to trust Him and believe Him. No worries. Just live life. We make mistakes, fine, everyone does. God is not standing up there waiting for us to drop the ball so He can drop the wrecking ball on our lives.

Jesus said to not worry about what we eat or drink, or what we wear. (Matt. 6:25-34) He takes care of the lilies of the fields which is here today and gone tomorrow. God takes care of the animal Kingdom, but also asks us to take of them as well (naked at the time as I recall). And God takes care of us. We let the animal kingdom live as they are, but we don't let each other live as we are. We force others to comply to our standards and we live in fear of those who impose their standards on us. Sometimes we do have to comply, but does that mean we must live our lives in fear all the time?

Living nude is an great way of breaking that fear wall. We live in clothing simply because we fear someone might "see something" and why that causes such mental anguish is beyond me. I have the same parts as you do (male to male in this case). Some people are large, some are small, some are skinny and some are fat. Some are healthy and some are...well... not so. We are human beings created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26) and raw fear (not shame as some believe) is what got Adam and Eve to believe that their bodies are "naked" and need to be hid, even from the Creator Himself! That is fear over load. Why live that way when you are in Christ? He forgave us our sins and the Sin of mankind in Adam. John 1:29What are we waiting for?

What does it take to be a nudist? Just stop wearing and depending on clothing so much. Quit living in fear. And be comfortable in who you are, especially if you know who and what you are in Christ.

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may "live nude and prosper" and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. (my edited version of 3John 1:2)

Boyd Allen

PS. I do cover up for the sake of the weak. But are you weak? Do you really believe that you are the "weak in Christ"? Do you feel you are not up to the challenge of a little more meat instead of just soft food? Hebrews 5:12 If you have been a Christian for many years, then you should not be weak and this admonition in Hebrews 5 is not for your sake, it's for the new babes in Christ who are still on the milk of the word.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

There is a segment of Christians that are freeing themselves and actually believing that nudity is OK by God. They call themselves "Christian Nudists" or "Christian Naturists". Funny I say this like it's something new. This blog page is dedicated to this very subject!

But as freeing as we are, we are still hiding behind fig leaves and bushes.

When Adam and Eve first took of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked and sewed fig leaves together to wear over their bodies, or at least an apron around their waist. When God came to walk in the garden in the cool of the day, God called out to them. Adam replied by saying that they were afraid and hid because they were "naked".

Here are a couple of problems, first, Adam was already hiding behind fig leaves, so technically he was no longer "naked" as it were. But he hid behind bushes in addition still believing he was naked. Second, God asked him "Who told you that you were naked?" , which implies God did not tell them, nor did God seem to have a problem if they were naked. So what is going on? But that is another story I covered in previous blogs to certain degrees. Just scroll down history lane and read them.

Today, we not only understand this as Christian Naturists, but we also understand we are no longer under Adams spell or deception. We realize that God never had an issue with it, we have many historical articles via blogs, books, magazines and other resources we can fall back on (if man has to fall) to explain to others about what we are doing. But we are still on the "milk of the word" rather than ready for the meat, the real stuff. The stuff Christians are made of. We are still hiding our life from those who are "weak in the faith" which pretty much means everyone from new believers (who are understandably weak) to the head pastor and above! They expect us to be quiet about this in church because of the "weak in faith", which is a very sad commentary of your church and pastor!

But the irony is that we also hide our Christianity, or at least just don't talk about it, among our nudist friends who are OK with our nudity.

Either way, we are hiding behind fig leaves and bushes when we need to run and cry out "Abba! Father" and be FREE in Christ wherever we go! We may not be able to be nude in the general (clothed) public, that is, in the world, but they are still living under the spell and deception of Adam and are still afraid and making nudity as a criminal act. But I don't expect them to get it. But I certainly expect YOU and your CHURCH to get it!

We need to stop living and hiding behind fig leaves and bushes! If it offends the Church and they ask you to leave, then you do not belong there! They are still living in the world and still "weak in faith" and "on the milk of the word" which is a comment on your pastor and leaders! If they cannot stretch their spiritual dogma enough to see this, then maybe it's time we move on. You cannot change them, and as long as we listen to them as our spiritual leader while they are hiding behind fig leaves and bushes blaming God, then we have a problem. Yes, I wrote "blaming God" because that is exactly what Adam did! He blamed God for all this. "the woman that you created...." We say he blamed Eve for the fruit incident, but he slapped God in the face while we was swinging his hand around to point to Eve as the problem.

We need to take responsibility for what we believe in. We need to rip off those fig leaves (metaphorically speaking here, though many of us would like to do more) and be more open about our beliefs and stand up both in Church and in our respective resorts.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Today's challenge for individuals and for small and large businesses and corporations, is to "Think Outside the Box". Even if they did think outside, will they actually step outside the box as well? Thinking is one thing, doing is another.

As Christian Nudists, we do more than "Step out of the Box".

Today's Christians are getting bolder. They are wearing "casual Friday" clothing to Church and actually stepping out of the Box of conventional church settings. That was shocking to the proponents of the three piece suit tradition. They are trying to break down the walls that Christianity (as a religious organization ) has created for itself. And they are excited about that and we are excited for them.

Allen Parker speaking in church at White Tail Resort

But a nudist will dare to take one more step. We step out of clothing into our version of Casual Friday and serve humanity with the gospel in the nude. That's right. Totally naked, without clothing, as God made us and as we were born. And most of the "Casual Friday" set is not quite ready for that yet. It is unfortunate though that we still carry some of our "clothing" with us in our baggage. Our church customs, limited beliefs, concern over things that a church has created, based on the idea that our bodies are sin and must be covered, are still haunting us and holding us back. Oh, we still believe we can go beyond some of those beliefs, long enough to be nude that is. But when we change our beliefs about our bodies, shouldn't that also change our beliefs about our doctrines that have been created over the years based on a Clothed Mentality? It is time we step out of more than just our clothes, we need to leave the box behind as well. I'm not say we abandon all Church teachings. We are Christians and we are still teaching basics such as baptisms, repentance, Jesus Christ, the Trinity, Communion, all bibilcally based doctrines. But when a Church accuses us of "Sin" based on doctrines that do not exist in the bible, shouldn't we take another look at what they believe and why they believe this or that? We are taking off more than our clothing, for we are not truly naked. We are wearing Christ, his righteousness and we are created in His image and likeness after all. We can do more in Christ. We have that advantage. Step out of the Box, step out of our traditions, and

Saturday, November 15, 2014

When we have a problem in our life, the first step toward
resolving this problem is to admit we have one.
An alcoholic will deny he or she is an alcoholic and will never do
anything about it. Now once they admit
it, they still have a choice whether they want to do something about it or not.
Some choose to live the life of an alcoholic long after they admit and will
continue to admit it and live that way.
Fortunately, there are groups (AA for example) that helps alcoholics. There are groups who help those with sex
addictions, gambling, etc. But the
first step is answering the question or admitting there is a problem.

I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid

In Genesis chapter 1, we see a creation story which outlines
in a poetic way how God created the heavens and earth. Sure, this is not a
scientific absolute step by step way, more like a quick outline. But somewhere in that creation, he created
“Man”. Later, he created “Woman” out of
that Man. At the end of chapter 2, we learn that Man
and Woman, who were named Adam and Eve, were naked (Arom in Hebrew) and not
ashamed. Arom simply means “Naked, Nude,
without clothing”. (Gen. 2:25) (See
Hebrew Strongs Concordance 6174 Arom) This revelation was not written within
the original “creation” chapter, but part of a second story of the creation
(same but told differently). It was as
if it were either added in, or written by someone who was used to being clothed
and telling the story to those who saw them as naked or nude. The first story, Chapter 1, says that God
created them in their “image and likeness”

Later, Adam and Eve took of the tree that God told them not
to eat and their “eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked” (Erom, (5903)
naked but crafty, shrewd, naked but up to no good or what rednecks may say
“nekid”). They made for themselves coverings or aprons out of fig leaves. I
have handled fig leaves before and they have a slightly rough surface. I don’t
think that was very comfortable. They
also hid behind a bush when God came to talk to them in the “cool of the
day”. God was not upset by their nudity
since he told them to multiply and fill the earth and to take care of the
earth, walked away and left them as naked.
There were no command to dress or cover themselves.

But I have to question that word. Because when God confronted them about this
new “revelation” on being naked and afraid, God asked The Question: “Who told you
that you were [Erom]?” And without waiting for an answer, He then proceeded
to ask the second question “Did you eat of the tree I told you not to eat or
touch?”

That first Question, we have yet to answer because Adam did not answer it. He
just answered the question about the tree, while accusing not just Eve, but God
himself! “The woman YOU gave to me…….and
I did eat”. It was a confession along with
an accusation.

But the question “Who told you that you were naked (Erom or
“naked and up to no good”) was never
answered. Have you answered that
question? Many today thought Adam and
Eve did the right thing by covering up. When they took of that tree of
knowledge of good and evil on their own, they discovered that they were naked
(Erom, which is not simply without clothes, but “nekid”), they felt shame and
wanted to hide it because that is what God wanted them to do. But I quickly disagree! Why? Because God
asked the question, “Who told you that you were naked” then immediately
associated that with “did you eat of that tree” (paraphrased) without waiting
for an answer. Why? Because God certainly did not tell them! Again, why? Because in God’s eyes, they were not naked!

So who did tell them they were naked? Lets go further back and see who told them
they could eat of the tree. The cunning serpent. We know this serpent today as
Satan the devil himself; the liar, the thief, the murderer, the Father of
Lies. So if Satan LIED to them about the
tree, then could he also have tricked them though subtle lies about their
bodies? God created their bodies and
said it is very good. Satan distorted
their view of their God given and blessed bodies.

Up to this point in the creation story, at the end of each
“day”, God said it was good. But when he
looked over His whole creation, Adam and Eve (still “naked; Arom”) included,
God said it was “very good”. Not just
“good”, but “very good”. Then he set
aside a day and rested from all his work because he was complete. Finished.
Done. Nothing more to do. Period.

So whats up with this naked couple? God said they were very good, He said that He
was finished, He rested, He even sent them on a worldwide mission to take care
of His creation and to have children to spread throughout the earth. And he told them that while they were still
naked (Arom)! Without any hint that what
they were was bad. Why should God do
that? He already said it was “very good”. So whats up with this naked
thing?

Again, who told us that we were naked? Especially when God said we are created in
His image and likeness! “Let us make man in our image and our likeness”. God (being Father, Son and Holy Spirit) did
not say “Let us make man naked and ashamed of being naked so we shall force
them to wear clothing with penalty of hell fire forever if they don’t wear
clothing!” How sick would that be? Did God create us for clothing or did God
create clothing for us? Did God threaten
Adam and Eve with their clothing? Did God command them to wear clothing? No. He did not! He only made clothing for them because they
were not yet ready to confess their sin and come to God as they were and expose
their sin to Him. Because they were
about to go out into the world (out of the garden) inside of their own fears,
and God’s love would not allow them to go into the world while living in that
fear. Instead, they accused God and insist on going
their own way. Like an addicted person,
they could either not see their situation, or they refused to change and go to
their Father for help. Either way, they
had to leave the garden, and we know the rest of the story.

Have you confessed your Sin?
Do you still say “I am naked and afraid?” If you do, confess to God and He will clothe
you with righteousness and love. In 1
John 4:18 it says “There is no fear in love. But perfect love
drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is
not made perfect in love.”

God is Love. God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of
Eden. Now Jesus came and HE cast Satan
out of the Garden and brought us back to himself! Either way, God cast out
fear. First it was Adam and Eve, then in
Jesus Christ, God cast out Satan and brought Adam and Eve back into the Garden
and this time said to go into all the world and preach the good news. Of course, we are still created in Gods image
and likeness. When Jesus came out of the tomb, it was said he left his burial
clothes behind. So what was Jesus
wearing when he came out of the tomb? He
was called “The other Adam” and in some translation, the Second Adam.

We are no longer in the first Adam, but we are now in the
Second, Last or Other Adam: Jesus Christ.
He is still flesh, not ashamed to be flesh. As in Job, he came into this world naked and
left this world naked.

See my other article “What Is Naked?” and “The Second Adam” for more to this
story.

I am not naked. I am in the Image and Likeness of God. It was Satan who told me I was naked. Satan
is a liar and the father of lies. He
lied to me, to my family and to this world. God (Father, Son and Spirit) said I
was created in their image and likeness (Let us create man in our
image and our likeness).

I confess to God the Father in Jesus Christ by the power and
revelation of the Holy Spirit, that I once believed the lie Satan gave me, but I
am now in Christ, who created me in his image and likeness. To this world who still believes the father
of lies, I appear to be naked. But in
Christ, I am clothed with righteousness alone.
There is no longer any shame or fear, but Love.

“Thank you Jesus Christ for coming into
our flesh, our nakedness and rather than being ashamed, you redeemed us and sat
us down at the right hand of the Father in YOU. You are still flesh, yet
glorified in your former glory. We are
created in YOUR image and YOUR likeness, and we are not ashamed to preach this
good news (gospel) of what you did for all of humanity. “For God so loved the
world (Cosmos kosmos. See http://biblehub.com/greek/2889.htm
for more on this), that he gave his only begotten son...”, and we are IN that
son. You do not find our physical state
shameful. You came in the flesh (2 John
1:7) and you crucified that flesh of its sinful desires (Gal 5:24) and you are
manifested in our flesh (2 Cor 4:11) and cried out for us in your flesh (Heb
5:7). We no longer walk in the flesh as
if in this world, but in Christ Jesus who lifted us up in spirit and truth. Our flesh, though is still broken in this
world, is glorified in you. The flesh of
this world will be handed over to Satan, since he was the one who polluted it,
but in you, we are no longer of this world, even though we are still in our
flesh. One day, like you Jesus, we will be resurrected physically and given
eternal life. We are no longer ashamed of being in your image and likeness.”

Confess to Jesus and answer the Question. You were lied to.
You are no longer under Adam. You are
now in Christ Jesus.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Gen. 2:9 “Out of
the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight
and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Gen
2:16-17 “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the
garden you may eat freely; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (NASB)

When
man was told by God that he (Humanity) can eat of ANY tree in the Garden EXCEPT
for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, I would have to make the assumption
that he could eat of the tree of life that was also planted there. I would think that the tree of life would
have been a more “tempting” tree and Adam would have gone there first.

However, we know how that went. See Genesis 3:1-7 for that story.

But we always had a “what if” going on in the back of our minds: What if Adam
took of the tree of life first? I’m not
asking the obvious question asked by nudists, “would man be naked now?” I’m going the other direction…for now.

The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" was not for man, at least, in this setting. So the next question would be obvious: Why was it there? Why did it seem good, taste good, and look good
to eat? Why all this “temptation” in
front of man? Was God teasing man? Was God trying to find out if man was going
to obey Him? Was it a test?

I don’t think so. I don’t think God
would deliberately put temptation in front of man that way. Men have blamed women for being a
“temptation”. So would that imply that
Eve was a temptation God put in front of Adam? No, I don’t think God works that way. You have a dessert on the table. It is meant for after dinner. The kids were told (and the husband too) to
leave it alone until after dinner. Eat your
dinner first and then you may have some.
Is it a temptation? Maybe to the
kids, but not mom who said “Don’t eat of it or touch or you will go to bed with
out dinner and be grounded for a week!”
Does the cake actually cause this?
No, but it is the result of you don’t follow instructions. But was that her intent? Was that God’s intention? To make someone follow instructions? To see if they will obey a divine rule?

There is a good reason for this. Mom knows the reason, God knows the reason.
Man does not have to know.

So, back to the tree.
Man is physical. God is
spiritual. They are incompatible or,
worlds apart. I hear theories that man
had a spiritual essence (a glow?) that was present until man sinned. That is not an option the way the original
writing proposes. Man was just without
clothing, or “naked” if you will. At
least it seems so from our perspective.
I propose it was not God’s perspective.
See this articlefor more on that.
However, that tree with the fruit on it, was there for a reason. Was it
a dessert? Was it a reward for obedience? Or was it something else? The tree of
life, before we forget, was also attributed to Jesus Christ later. Jesus is the
way, the truth and the life. We go to Jesus for everything, especially
spiritual knowledge and life. We know
what is truly good and evil through Christ.
And HE gives us that knowledge.
And I think that is where this would have fit in. You see, this fruit is not compatible with
man until a Catalyst is put into
place. Like water and oil, which cannot
mix, you will need a catalyst, or another chemical or substance that can help
mix oil and water.

Lye is a catalyst used to mix oil (fat, grease) and water to
make soap. By itself, lye is a very
harsh ingredient, but with the right mixture with oil, it can be mixed into
water to wash out dirt and oily grime.

The tree of life is that catalyst, which, had Adam and Eve went to that first
(Going to Christ first), then God would have given them the knowledge of what
is good and what is evil. I think the
forbidden tree was the second part of what man needed once he went to the tree
of life. Like the serpent (Satan) who stood
by the tree of knowledge, God (Future Jesus) may have been standing by the tree
of life ready to give them what they needed.
Then Satan would have been dislodged from the other tree so God can give
them the knowledge they needed when they needed it.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not a bad
tree. It was not a killer except for the fact that it was incompatible to man
as man was physical in this way. Once
the tree of LIFE, ever lasting life, was introduced INTO man, man changes, his
character, his nature changes, so that the tree of knowledge is now compatible
to man, to do good, no harm.

The Catalyst for humanity is Jesus Christ. When Jesus became flesh, man became
compatible. Before, we could not
approach God and His throne. Now we
can! What changed? Man changed when God (Jesus, or Emanuel, God
with us, God in the flesh) became flesh!
God is already everlasting, so nothing (other than a physical and
temporary death by a cross) can cause Gods’ demise. When the Word (Jesus) came to earth, it is
like leavening, which leavens the whole lump, and changed mans relationship
with God. Yes, we are still physical, we
still sin and can still die and suffer eternal death. But we now have that
option to go to that Tree of Life and live. Then we can now take of that tree
of the knowledge of good and evil by that living Tree, Jesus Christ and
live! But it is by Gods’ grace, love and
encouragement, not by Satans’ hatred, selfish and miserable reasons.

Since God made all things and all that God does is always
good, therefore, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a good tree,
but not good for man outside of Christ, or in this case, the Tree of Life!

Because of what Jesus did, came to earth, to recreate man in his own image and
likeness, be baptized into that relationship, and take of that Tree of Life,
and Jesus will give you what you need and it will be an abundant life! John 10:10

What are these fruits that Jesus will give? One hint is "by their fruit you shall know them" Matt. 7:16 and 20.

The holy spirit is a giver of fruit, which includes love, joy, peace, patience, etc. Once the holy spirit is in you, you have that fruit within you. It is the power you can trust in, believe in. Oh, it doesn't do Harry Potter stuff, but you can't get better power than love. Galatians 5:22, and the holy spirit gives you wisdom, understanding and knowledge of God. Adam and Eve could not touch that tree because they were not ready for this fruit. You have to be baptized into Jesus Christ, go to him first, go to the tree of life, then receive the power of the holy spirit. You cannot receive the holy spirit by Satan the devil. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Now you can come to God without fear, come naked before God, free from sin and receive the power of the holy spirit.

As a Christian Nudist, we are not ashamed of the image and likeness of God and will live nude to His glory and honor. 1 Cor 6:19 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."

Thursday, June 5, 2014

When we read the bible, we often have lenses that distort what we see.. Just like Adam did when he first took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. His view of God changed, was distorted. It wasn't nudity he was afraid of, it was God. God did not change, God stayed the same. It was man who changed and when God came out to the garden, he was calm, normal, enjoying the cool of the day. It was man who saw God as an angry being out for revenge. You see, Adam thought God threatened him with death if he took of the forbidden fruit. No. God did not threaten man with death. He warned man that he would die.Here is the difference: If I told you that if you played with snakes and it bit you, that you would die, is that a warning or a threat? It is a warning, out of love and concern.

God warned man that he would die. Don't think God was an angry being out for revenge to a rule that was broken. It was not a law, except a law much like gravity. Gravity is a law of nature and if you jump off a cliff, that law is fulfilled by you dying or getting seriously injured. The tree, which God said to not eat, was God's tree, not mans. It is incompatible to physical man. The only way that man can eat of that fruit is when his nature changes. That comes from the Tree of Life. If you eat of that tree (Jesus Christ), you will never die. Then eating of the Tree of Knowledge would not kill you because you have already eaten of the Tree of Life. Make sense? But man took of the wrong tree first. It was not just disobedience, it was out of necessity that man be warned of what can happen if he took of what is dangerous to him.Oh...the clothing part? That was because man was so scared that he trusted the clothing and no longer trusted God. Do you trust God now? Or do you still need the clothing? God is waiting. You can also eat of the Tree of Life now, and God will give you the tree of knowledge and you will live.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Since Merriam-Webster has such a long definition, I'll just let you read the "text book" definition via the link.
I also like the Redneck or Urban definition: Naked: "Being without clothes." Nekid: "Being without clothes and up to no good."

But aside from that, what about the bible?

If I were to ask God what is naked, he would most likely ask me right back "You tell me! What is naked to you?" (Jesus was famous for answering a question with a question) Why would God ask me that? Would God know what naked is? Or was that a word that really needs redefinition and we have the wrong one?

Let me pose this thought in a different way:

You walk in on your ten year old daughter and she is assaulting her face with her mothers makeup.

You may find it humorous and decided she was trying to look like mommy, but after asking what she is doing she replies with "I am ugly! I don't look pretty. I am trying to look pretty!"

How would you answer that?

One answer could be "You are right! I never knew that until you pointed it out! We need to take you to a plastic surgeon and get some work done right away!" Of course, you are probably being sarcastic and trying to psych the poor kid out. (and she may need therapy if that happened)

Another response could be "What makes you think you are ugly?"
or "Who TOLD you that you were ugly?"

The child may answer, "Well, the reason I think I am is because several kids at school told me" or "I saw pictures in a teen magazine and I am afraid I won't look like that when I become a teenager".

We can go on with potential answers and responses and even antidotes to the problem,

But the REALITY is: The CHILD IS NOT UGLY!Period! (Did I emphasize that enough?)

The awful idea that you would describe your child as "ugly" would have never crossed your mind!

God asking "Who told you that you were naked", (Genesis 3:11) was not a confirmation that they were naked, any more than us asking "Who told you that you were ugly" is a confirmation that our child is ugly. It is only a question to find the source of this horrific LIE!

Now if the child insists on trying to resolve her dilemma by putting on makeup to cover her face, even after our reassurance and outgoing love for them, then sometimes all we can do is teach her that globs of blue eye shadow is not really all that great and teach her how to use it "modestly". Being modest about using makeup is not a command to use makeup any more than being modest about clothing is a command to wear them (1 Timothy 2:9) . Just be modest about it if you insist on wearing it and believing you are "ugly" or "naked" without it. It is noted that many women say they feel naked if they don't wear makeup even though they look beautiful to everyone else around them. Is there a connection to this self referential conclusion with Adam and Eve? "Who told you that you were naked without makeup?" This is usually how we feel (subjectively speaking) even though it is not true (objectively) from Gods or the parents perspective.

So God had a choice. Should he just right out and kill Adam and Eve? After all, he did say "On the day you eat of it you shall die". What is death? What was it before the "fall"? Did it have a different meaning to what we apply it today?

What language is this?

Death, Fear, Naked, Suffering, Pain, War, Hunger, Hell, Loneliness, Divorce, Shame, Hate (you get the idea), are these all words that came from the result of the fall? Was it in the original language of Adam and Eve before the fall? It seems our whole language changed when the wrong choice was made. Words such as Arom (Naked) or Eyrom (Nekid and up to no good) were introduced when Adam sinned. Even though the prefall explanation of Adam and Eve was that they were naked (Arom), does not mean that they were from God's perspective. This was written by clothed people to a clothed people about the original state of Adam and Eve by comparison to their current state. The writer could just as easily have wrote "They were free and happy with no shame or fear or need of clothing because God created them that way and wanted them to live that way".

Then again, maybe those words were in the original language because God did warn them of "death" if they took from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But one thing we must always remember and KNOW within our hearts and spirit as well as our minds, is that everything, and I do mean everything that God says and does, is always, always, always, out of love. Outgoing concern for the welfare of others. That is God's nature. Threats, anger, selfish reasons, are never a part of God's language. It is always love. God's perspective of death, sin, and even naked, is different from our perspective because God views those out of love, not from anger, shame or fear.

But God chose in his mercy (love) to let them live and their children live (though they tempted him many times to finish them off. See Noah and the flood, Moses and Israel). God sent Jesus to resolve this issue by fulfilling the "death" part. We still want to think we are naked (Eyrom) when in reality, we were just in no need of clothing, and Jesus restored us to our previous "non issue" status with God.

On a related note, as Christians, we tend to glorify the cross, which is considered as foolishness (or even shame) to the Greeks (1Cor. 1:18-25), yet we vilify Christ on the cross by covering him in shame! After all, he was naked on that cross! (See this interesting article on another site) What is this blasphemy? Who are we to cover Jesus' body because he was naked, and then expose the very tool of shame? Jesus did endure shame, but that shame was not because of his physical state as nude, but because it is considered shame to be crucified on a cross. See Hebrews 12:2 and Galatians 3:13 Is Jesus ashamed of his own body as if he were the sinful Adam himself? In fact who told Adam that he was naked in the first place? Satan? Are we to listen to THAT perverse character from hell? What has Satan got that we need to hear?

Listen to God and his pure language of love. There is no "naked" in God's love language. For we are not without! God called on Adam and Eve when he walked in the garden in the cool of the day. What a beautiful scene! That was not an angry God coming for vengeance for a divine rule that was broken! God, taking a nice walk in the cool of the day calling out for his children to come visit him and talk to him! Again, what a beautiful scene! What do you think God would have done had Adam and Eve come out still starkers, totally naked? I'm sure the same thing he did before when he left them there naked in the first place! For he never said they were naked! Again, was that even in his language? Naked, without, lacking, incomplete, unfinished, not whole, missing something. Like telling an artist he missed a spot on his beautiful painting. Was that how God left them? And God saw the work that he had done and said it was very good. Gen. 1:31 and Gen 2:1 says "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them". Finished, complete, whole, satisfying, a wonder to look at, free of missing spots. This was not his original language.

Here is the original language or thought:

Gen. 1:26-28Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

While they were still naked?

God saw all that he created (emphasis on ALL), and pronounced it "very good". Adam and Eve was still naked (using our broken sinful language) and had already been given the command to spread humanity across the globe! They were to take care of God's "very good" creation! While they were naked! Now up to the point during the creation process, he said what he created was "good". Now, he left with a thumbs up and a wink saying ALL is VERY good! See the difference? So what changed? God? Did God suddenly realize he forgot something? Did he miss a spot? Did God think Adam and Eve were naked? I can almost hear God ask "Naked? What is this naked? What are you talking about? Who told you this nonsense?...just a minute here...did you eat of that tree I told you not to eat of?"

The only reason God covered us is not because we are "naked", but that we are afraid and about to face a big world while living in that fear. They are no longer living in the peace and love enjoyed previously. And that is how we accept that love from God, (though it was a showing of love and compassion, but not THE Love of God himself which we hid from). We hid from God's true nature which is love. The only love we were willing to accept were "gifts" and "physical blessings" until the Christ.

Just because God clothed us, does not mean we MUST wear clothing. It is not a law, there is no threat of hell or damnation, not part of the ten commandments, and even if we use God clothing us as a reason that we must wear clothing at all times, then when God put "clothing of skin" on us, why are we wearing plants again? Cotton is a plant just like fig leaves are plants. And if you believe apples are what Adam and Eve ate, the fruit which was forbidden by penalty of death, then why do we eat apples? Why are we applying a penalty to something God didn't apply a penalty to?

Even Jesus said "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son" So why do we judge people to hell for something God created and called "very good"?

Are we naked? Are we ugly? Are we judging God's creation as bad, ugly, evil, missing something, lacking? All words related to our sin. Or, from God's perspective and language of love, are we just created in His image and His likeness?

Friday, January 3, 2014

I wonder why God asked "Who told you that you were naked?" to Adam when Adam said they were naked and afraid?

One theory was that man had an "aura" about him and lost that aura when he took of the fruit. But how can they be "clothed with an aura" if they were "naked and not ashamed"? If they were clothed with something (such as light) that was removed, then technically, they were not naked. But they were "naked" according the story.

But then if we make the assumption that "lack of man made clothing" equates to nudity (naked), then I suppose in that light (pun intended), they were naked, that is, they were not wearing man made clothing from the writers perspective. From that perspective, they must be naked, right? But in reality, were they naked in God's sight, even though they look just like us when we are not wearing man made clothing?

God asked "Who told you that you were naked?" Why? Was it because they were NOT naked to God?

Maybe we were not wearing external clothing (cloth, leather, plants, light), but from God's perspective, neither were we naked! So in that sense, even though I am sitting here without any external clothes on, I am not really naked from God's perspective.

We have theseself referential and subjective ideas that we push on God, which God says "NO" to. So when God saw Adam and Eve thinking outside of God's perspective, he made clothing for them to alleviate their fears. But that is only a temporary fix until the Christ, who came to make all things new again. He restored us, we are born again, made new and no longer under Adams' sin. I can think from God's perspective again!

As for our spiritual nakedness, God is much more concerned about that than he is about our physical nudity. But Jesus came into our flesh, our humanity and redeemed it and gave us spiritual clothing so we are neither naked physically or spiritually in Christ. The song "Christ the Solid Rock" says it simply "Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne."

One time I wrote "I am not naked, I'm just not wearing any clothes". Now I may need to bring back that thought with God's view of my "subjectively nude" body.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

One of the things we need to question in our evangelical quest to “save
as many souls as possible before all hell breaks loose" is, who, how and
why.

But I keep going back to what Jesus said about himself and the
Father. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day." John 6:44

Well, that’s fine and dandy, except, what if the Father never calls this
person? What do we do then? I suppose we tell them “Tough luck kid, I
guess you’re going to be punished in hell for the next zillion years
even though you didn’t have a chance to begin with!” (There is a Christian denomination that thinks this way)

That doesn’t seem to be fair, especially from a loving God and for such a
short, miserable life this person had. And how would we ever know if
God is calling them later or not? Should we give up? Try to save them
ourselves? Wait on the Lord as some would say? (Waiting is not a bad idea by the way)

But we are still in panic mode trying our best and hope to God that all these otherwise nice people don’t go to hell.

What work we do! What love for these people we must have! What commitment, zeal…and full of ourselves! What a waste of time! And God seems to be doing absolutely nothing unless we act! We say "We are doing the work for the Lord" as if the Lord asked us to do the work for him.

Seems foolish to me, considering how weak and broken I am. So I am
reminded of the foolishness of God which is still far wiser than mans
wisdom. 1Cor. 1:25 Maybe we are missing something here.

Because there is another verse which seems to contradict the first one, where Jesus
said, “No one can come unto the Father except through me". John 14:6

Stop the car! Pull over! Let’s pull the map out and read it again!
First, we can’t go to Jesus unless the Father draws us to him, and we
cannot go to the Father except through Jesus, whom we cannot go to
unless the Father, (which we cannot access without Jesus) draws us to
Jesus!! What gives?

If the only way we can access the Father is through Jesus and the
only way we can access Jesus is from the Fathers invitation, then we can
only assume we are already in contact with both, Father and Son! Or, we have no chance at either one! How then, can we we resolve this circular puzzle?
By the Holy Spirit that was sent by the Father through the
Son!! NOW we see the connection! Because the Holy Spirit was sent to
earth (and by default, to humanity) by Jesus on the day of Pentecost, we are complete in Jesus
if you understand that the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity as God,
(Emanuel; God with us). This was done already a long time ago! There
is nothing we can do! If we try to
save people thinking they have no access, then we are bypassing what
Jesus AND the Father AND the Holy Spirit has done already! We were not
told that we can come to Jesus through evangelism, though by evangelism,
we come into the knowledge of our existence in Christ.

Either we are already in Jesus because of what he did, or there is absolutely no hope for humanity: saints and sinners!

Now what is the evangelist to do? Or have we misunderstood what we are
to do? We think we are called to save souls. Well, to a limited understanding,
yes, but for what, and for whom? It isn’t a matter of saving people from, but for.
Isn’t our main priority to announce the Good News (Gospel) of God’s Kingdom
which, if I’m not too far mistaken, Jesus is King of right now? If
Jesus is the King of a Kingdom, then we can only assume there are
subjects (citizens) of that Kingdom. And Jesus’ Kingdom includes all of who the Father called unto Himself through Jesus. So the real question is, what are we “saving” them, or better
yet, leading to them understanding, for?

All we are called to do is to announce the Good News of this Kingdom and
teach all nations to observe and learn their role in this Kingdom! To be disciples. And to help people see
who Jesus is, who they are in Jesus, and to help them receive (not get) salvation with understanding (via Holy Spirit) and accept the “already done” into
their daily lives.

John 4:35 "Don’t
you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you,
open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest."

Either we are going round and round trying to save people (just in case
Jesus missed a few), or God has already resolved this circular puzzle.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

How much of your Valuable Time, Money and Earth Diminishing Resources are spent on hot, dirty, uncomfortable clothing? Could clothing cause and spread pollution, germs and sickness? Is clothing really worth all of that trouble?

Ecologically speaking, Naturism (living nude) Is Better.

Why?

Someone once told me that I go through a lot of trouble to go nude.

Well, here is my answer: What does it take to go nude? Nothing! Just don't wear anything. Then what does it take to wear clothes? Just put some on.

Right?

Are we sure?

Then where does a lot of our clothing come from? How much time, money and other resources does this consume? What financial, physical and emotional effort do we put in just to keep clothes on our bodies? What trouble do we go into just to keep someone else from seeing our bodies? How does this effect our ecology? How does this affect our well being?

We plow hundreds of thousands of acres of land of grain, grass and trees under for cotton. We have worked and literally enslaved people to work these cotton fields for cotton. Why? For clothing. Cotton, because of it not being raised for food, is one of the most highly insecticide laden fields we have. Chemical fertilizers and other pollutants are added to cotton. Then we gather it with huge cotton pickin' machines that were created by farm machine companies who also plowed up land for their manufacturing companies to build and sell farm machines. Sale lots also take up land. That's a lot of trouble for clothing.

But wait, there's more! Behind curtain number two, (which was made of cotton) are the cotton mills. Yes, cotton must be turned into yarn and thread. From which is made into cloth. It is also cleaned and dyed as well. That takes lots of water and energy. (Ooops, I forgot the millions of gallons of water to raise the cotton and cause a top soil run-off didn't I?) The water is then run back into our streams and waterways. These mills are large. They take up many acres of land as well. Don't forget the "free parking" the employees are blessed with. That takes up a few acres. And we are talking about a LOT of manufacturers and mills and farms around the world. Accumulate that for acreage!

Now for the clothing manufacturers. Do the mill thing again only replace it with making clothes and using up land in other areas. These manufactures are all around the world, and many countries practically enslave their workers and children to make these clothes cheap! We like that because it gives us more clothing cheaply so we can feel justified and proper! Warehouse these items. More buildings and land.

By the way, all of these items previously and after this are being hauled by large transfer trucks across the country and by ship around the world. Add that to the fuel consumption and pollution.

Now to sell these clothes. Uh-oh! I am afraid that this will step on a few toes of those people who just love to go shopping. In fact, that love has inspired more stores and parking lots and malls than there are manufacturers and cotton fields combined! Everywhere from Large malls with parking lots that are larger than the malls themselves, to yard sales and used clothing stores, people are buying and selling clothes. Expensive clothes. Underwear averages to about three to four dollars each. Multiply that by God knows how many people in the United States alone, not to mention the rest of the world, and that is only underwear (made with cotton).

Whew! Tired yet? Now we got to buy it! But wait! That stuff was not just lying around in a big store just any-ol'-way! It was packaged and labeled and yes, advertised by million dollar advertising agencies that use magazines and newspapers and TV for ads, but we won't go there this time. I'll just let you use your imagination. OK, I'll give you a hint. Trees. Back to the stores. Packaging, more package and boxing companies who use trees and plastics to package these things and bag them. The plastic bags, as tree saving as they are, are also manufactured, using oil products and causing more pollution. (See above for manufacturers.)

Now I am getting tired. But continue we must!

Now we spend hours of our precious family time going to these stores in our big cars (see manufacturers and pollutants), to buy these expensive under, and not yet mentioned, outer wear. Styles. We gotta have today's styles. More hours of buying. (Try getting your kids to re-wear your styles. Good luck.) More hundreds of dollars a year per family. Then next year, all this is out of style again! (Warning: You will find yourself repeating this paragraph for the rest of your life!)

Then we ruin our clothes at our manufacturing jobs, playing, wear and tear, and at the local laundry. Oh yeah! We got to buy clothes for different reasons. Clothes for work, play, church, casual, dress up, dancing, sleeping, vegetating in front of the TV, and swimming! Have you seen the prices of swimwear??? GASP! They are smaller than underwear and tens times as expensive! And we got to watch our weight so we can fit into these miserable sand traps. Weight programs ($$$) to fit into clothes. And if we do lose weight, we have to go back to the store and buy clothes that do fit (more time and $$$). See link to article at bottom of this page.

Now to take care of these clothes. Wash and wear. How simple. If we don't have a washing machine at home, we go to a laundry mat. (Building, parking lot, yada yada.) These machines (see manufacturers and stores that sells washing machines and dryers) use lots and lots of water. Precious drinking water. And that is only one machine of many in one laundry mat of many in one town! Not to mention homes with the same machines. Billions of gallons of polluted water. And of course we all just LOVE to go to a laundry mat and spend hours of quality time there and spend more money! What do towns that are going through water shortages do? Wear dirty clothes? Or allow nudity? Don't water your lawn or garden, but go ahead and wash clothes, we must have them!

How many hours of our time do we spend a year deciding what to wear that day, then iron these "wash and wear" outfits? (they had better match). Now of course, we want to impress our neighbors and friends with our clothing too. Yeah, right. They're too busy trying to impress us!

I'm sure you can think of more to add to this. Now I am tired!

Naturists, however, just get up and do whatever it is people do through out the day and none of the above matters. And you say that WE go through a lot of trouble??? Now don't get me wrong here, I realize that I just gave a good economically sound reason to wear clothes. Job's and money. (We do spend $billions on cleaning up pollution, great job creator here) And cotton is used for more than just clothes. Clothing in itself is not wrong. It is needed for warmth and protection in the winter and for jobs that require safety standards and yes, I realize that some are allergic to the sun and need the protection. However to do all this just to hide our bodies and force others against their will to comply (as if we were slaves), is to say at the least, a lot of trouble and aggravation! Nude is so simple, so clean, so non-polluting and so very cheap.

God had it right the first time!

This original article, which I wrote back in 1997-1999 is posted at http://bacn.bravehost.com/naturism_ecological.html but with some editing by original author for this blog.For additional reading:Nudity is Healthy for Brain and Body